We spoke with Nomasango Masiye Moyo, an attorney at Natural Justice, about the pending request for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on liability for climate change and the relatively muted response by African governments.
Founded in 1995 by leading environmental lawyer Kenneth Kakuru, Greenwatch is a Ugandan environmental rights advocacy organisation. We spoke with Director and Legal Counsel Samantha Atukunda Kakuru Mwesigwa about Greenwatch’s work and the state of climate litigation in Uganda.
We spoke with Nicole Loser, a seasoned climate litigator from South Africa, about the African litigation horizon and the successes and challenges in bringing a climate case. She highlights how reframing what we define as a climate case reveals more activity on the continent, the human element of strategic litigation, and some of the trends to watch.
The IMF has been thrust into the spotlight in recent years as a major actor within the global climate response. …
Ahead of the upcoming climate finance meeting in Colombia this month, African countries have laid out an ambitious approach to the new collective quantified goal on climate finance, arguing for it to be based on the actual needs of countries and not just a political figure.
We spoke with Bhekumuzi Dean Bhebhe, a Campaigns Lead at Power Shift Africa and Co-facilitator at Don’t Gas Africa about his work relating to fossil fuels and renewable energy in Africa. He shares his views on fossil fuel lock-ins, their hidden costs and the continent’s potential.
African women are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Investing in resilience building and adaptation initiatives that prioritise the empowerment and security of women will benefit wider communities and contribute to the sustainable development agenda.
Hopes were high that the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference that ended on 2 March, would address climate change and trade, including measures like the CBAM. However, like COP28, countries could not agree to its inclusion, with India blocking discussions on what it considered to be a “non-trade issue”.
At its 37th summit, the African Union’s climate committee, CAHOSCC, endorsed the establishment of a body to implement the Nairobi Declaration, adding to the already large swathe of climate committees and institutions. However, its guidance on the region’s key climate political topics was thin. As the AU joins the G20, it will need to formulate far more detailed and comprehensive positions on climate if it is to be taken seriously.
Last month, countries could not agree on whether to accelerate the pre-2028 delivery dates for the IPCC’s upcoming reports on the latest climate science. African countries will, however, welcome the decision to update the IPCC’s technical adaptation guideline, however the decision to not provide a special report on loss and damage will only frustrate efforts to progress loss and damage finance.
Ghana’s introduction of a carbon levy on vehicles, follows a push by more than seven African countries who have done the same. Are product related taxes such as these, a better path for African countries looking to mature their carbon pricing systems, in the context of global pressure to do so?
In January, the Nigerian state of Lagos introduced a ban on Styrofoam, sparking protests from industry and food vendors, but the Government has pushed back, stating it was long overdue. Nigeria is one of several African states pursuing measures to control the climate and environmental impacts of plastic, a role African countries could better claim in their climate policies.
